Two Oak Park armed robberies possibly linked

Two robberies committed using semi-automatic handguns on July 26 were possibly perpetrated by the same group of offenders, Oak Park police say.

Oak Park Commander LaDon Reynolds said the offender descriptions and actions seem to be similar in both cases, and the incidents occurred in the same area of the village, northeast Oak Park.

The first incident occurred between 1:15 and 1:38 a.m., when three offenders approached a victim while he was riding his bicycle on the 1500 block of N. Austin.

The first offender, described as a black male, 19 years old, 6-feet-2, with a thin build and braided black hair, displayed a dark-colored semi-automatic handgun and demanded the victim's orange and black Trek bicycle, black Nokia cellphone, and wallet.

The second offender, described as a black male, 19 years old, 5-feet-7, with short black hair, grabbed the victim's bike and rode off while the other offenders ran down the alley south of North Ave. from Austin. Estimated loss is $265.

The second incident occurred later that day, at just before 6 p.m. One offender walked up to a victim on the first block of Lemoyne and pointed a black semi-automatic handgun at the victim. Two other offenders then approached the victim from behind and one of them held a sharp item to his back while the other went through his pockets and removed his wallet.

The first offender then removed the cash from the wallet and threw the wallet in the victim's face. He then fled northbound on Austin while the other offenders fled in an unknown direction.

The first offender was described as a black male in his 20s with a medium build and black medium-length dreadlocked hair. No descriptions were given for the other two offenders.

Reynolds said the robberies are still under investigation and are not thought to be connected to two other armed robberies in Oak Park earlier this month, in which the offenders also reportedly had semi-automatic handguns.

"It's a series of robberies," Reynolds said. "We're not classifying it as a pattern."